Keen says people in the street shout, “I’m about to make a name for myself!” to her regularly, opens up about working with Channing Tatum, Wesley Snipes, and Jennifer Garner, and addresses her hope for future MCU appearances.
Channing Tatum’s Gambit may have been the one who exclaimed, “I’m about to make a name for myself!” with his wild Cajun accent, but costar Dafne Keen can’t escape the now-viral Deadpool & Wolverine moment.
With the movie now on Digital and Blu-ray and hitting Disney+ on November 12, TooFab caught up with Keen, 19, to chat about her return as Laura (a.k.a. X-23) in the superhero flick — which brought Marvel characters from Fox into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Keen returned alongside the titular characters played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, as well as vets Wesley Snipes and Jennifer Garner — returning as Blade and Elektra, respectively. Tatum also joined the crew, getting the chance to finally play the X-Men’s card-throwing mutant.
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Speaking with TooFab, Keen opened up about fighting — and laughing — alongside the group in the box office smash, before addressing her lack of super suit, stunt training with Garner, and her hopes for the future.
“Anything involving Channing,” Keen promptly replied when asked which moments on set were particularly hard to film because of the laughter.
“When you’re trying to be stoic and cool and Wolverine-adjacent and you have Channing Tatum doing the most ridiculous, hilarious accent you’ve ever heard in your life and ad-libbing the craziest lines, it’s very hard to be cool and stoic,” she told TooFab. “I had to tell Channing, in one of the shots, to not do his lines. When I had to say, ‘It’s Laura, let’s f–king go,’ I had to be like, ‘I can’t. You have to shut up and I’m just gonna do my [line],’ and he was like, ‘I respect that, I’ll be quiet.”
Of the Gambit line that has now gone viral, she said everyone on set was “dying of laughter” as he said it.
“There’s so many things they didn’t include in the gag reel of us generally not being able to get through things,” she continued. “What’s really funny is now I get quoted that at me in the street, at least once a week. Someone will scream at me from across the street, “I’m about to make a name for myself!” and I’m like, ‘Shoutout Channing!”
Getting to do one epic fight scene alongside Wolverine, Deadpool, Blade, Elektra, and Gambit was a dream come true for Keen, who had only appeared in 2017’s Logan before her MCU-proper debut. She, Snipes, Tatum, and Garner all arrived to set a week early for stunt training, with Keen praising the latter, in particular, for her work ethic and care.
“I stunt trained with Jen. I met Jen at stunt staining and I was like, this is insane, I’m literally fighting with Elektra, it’s the coolest thing ever,” recalled Keen. “Jen is such a wonderful, nurturing, sweet, kind soul, that it’s really cool for her to snap into this real badass energy and then she’s the most adorable ray of sunshine.”
“She took such good care of me, she was always checking in, like, ‘If you need anything, I’m here,'” she added. “I was so taken care of by everyone on that set, but Jen was really a pillar for me when we were filming.”
As for filming their big sequence, she said it was “really fun” for them all, as they were all “very excited to show everyone our little tricks that we had been practicing.” Added Keen, “I know Wesley had trained so much. We saw how much Jen trained in that video she put out.”
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While everyone else in the film got to rock some new super suits for the film, Keen’s Laura sported a more casual look. Her comic counterpart, however, wears an actual Wolverine suit, similar to the yellow one Jackman sports in the film. Should Laura/X-23 return down the line, Keen would be, well, keen, on dressing up.
“I think suiting up would be fun. I love a super suit. I think they’re the coolest costumes ever,” she told TooFab. “I remember watching X-Men as a kid and being like, so obsessed with the leather.”
“But honestly, I didn’t feel jealous of those guys when we were filming because I was in jeans and a top and they were all really uncomfortable,” she added. “I was having a blast. I was just in nice jeans, boots and a crop top and a backpack. I was having a vibe, I was very comfy.”
As for her future in the MCU, we knew she wouldn’t be able to confirm nor deny whether any plans were in place for her to return down the line. But considering this film’s success and massive team-ups like Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are both coming in Phase Six, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility we could see a few familiar Deadpool & Wolverine faces again … and soon.
All that being said, Keen told TooFab she “would honestly be happy to team up with anyone” in the MCU, should the opportunity arise.
“I think the whole New Mutants that they’re creating is really cool and that would be really cool to be part of,” she said, referring to Marvel making their own X-Men films now that they’ve regained the rights.
“I think a big team-up would be cool, I think Laura is a character that works really well in teams because she’s a fun character in a way that’s kind of that Wolverine grumpy energy that’s always kind of comedic in itself,” she added. “There’s a bunch of really cool new Marvel characters I’m really excited to see. I’m just excited.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is available now on Digital and Blu-ray, and streams on Disney+ November 12.
